Mar 18, 20213 min read

Develop A Culture of Sustainability And Regeneration

Calling All Up-Cyclers

Find Your Local Wood Reclamation Centre

Save The Trees!

We all know we are facing a climate and ecological crisis in the 21st Century, but how many of us know the zip wires to hook onto to contribute to greater Earth healing and protection?

One of these ‘wires’ is directly linked to the timber and wood industry. An industry which pretty much finds itself present in every single household and building nationally and internationally.

It’s important to really think about the scale of wood/ wood products being consumed and come to terms with the sad fact that not only our destruction is a terrible problem, but our profuse wasting/ ‘throw’ away culture is polluting our precious land too, and at an increasingly unsustainable rate.

As a society our habits have grown out of control, but there is something that you can do to negate the level of impact you individually are having, and if even 10-20 % of the population were to adopt this approach, there would be huge benefits for our planet, and the passing down of these bad habits for future generations would be swerved altogether!

Roll on the good news….

You don’t always have to buy fresh wood

Solo Wood is a not for profit social enterprise which specialises in wood reclamation, and has been saving hundreds to thousands of tonnes per year from going to landfill since they began 5 years ago. Their drivers go all over the capital on collections and bring pieces of wonderment back to their Yard in Croydon for anyone to come in and have a browse. The range of wood items; from sleepers and cable tops, to batton, pallets, beams, ply, frames and furniture pieces are extensive, with their Yard alone sitting at around 1/2 an acre, you are sure to find what you need - and at a considerably discounted price from the common retailers like B & Q and Halfords.

Not only will you be reducing your ecological footprint and the amount of trees that need to get cut down per year, but social enterprises such as Solo, reinvest their profits to solve key issues in their communities, so your direction of funds to an organisation like this will have a positive ripple effect to the hearts and lives of many.

What are Solo’s contributions?

⁃ Providing jobs for those which have been marginalised from previous employment

⁃ Taking on volunteers who are often vulnerable young adults; teaching them valuable skills and giving them a semblance of structure

⁃ Running forest and nature related educational workshops to home-educated children

⁃ Saving 50 to 100 tonnes per month from going to landfill

Their overall ethos is to change people’s mindsets from consumer to creator. They really encourage people to just try and so they go above and beyond to help people with their projects and share insights and advice wherever they can.

Places like this don’t have much of a marketing/ advertising budget so if you do visit and fall in love with the great work they do, telling at least 2 people you know really helps to make a difference.

‘Our work and mission is centred around developing a culture of sustainability & regeneration, taking out of the waste stream, and demonstrating the potential in reusing and up-cycling’

⁃ Solo Wood

We are living a more sedentary and online lifestyle than ever before, and wood work of any kind, whether that’s de-nailing, screwing together an allotment box, re-purposing pallets or varnishing a work top, all require a level of presence and so these types of engagements bring about feelings of deep connectedness and can really leave you feeling greatly satisfied and alive. Working with your hands and seeing something be created out of ‘nothing’ is such a special feeling. Not to mention the one of a kind, unique pieces you can display all around your home - No more Ikea identicals!